Home built by E. F. Linderman & Gudrun Ivara (Lund) Linderman
Edward Francis Linderman, 705 W. Third Street, Dubuque, Iowa
Shirley, Jimmie, Dickie, Gladys, and Edward Linderman~World War II~Dubuque, Iowa
Written by Roy Leonard “Jimmie” Nelson, Jr.
“Winter school work done in dining room next to coal burning pot belly stove. Heavy drapes to close living room off. House heated by registers, water circulated by furnace in basement. Coal storage room in basement to be hand fed to furnace. Sometime during W.W. II Grandpa had the furnace converted to oil fed. In the basement there was a vegetable room for canned foods, sacks of potatoes, and bags of sugar, etc…
There was a double sink to wash clothes, and one sink had a wringer. There was a four burner stove to heat copper boiler for washing clothes (hot water). Basement foundation large stones. They were white washed every summer.
Three bedrooms upstairs. Me & Grandpa across from each other, bathroom head of the stairs. Mom & Shirley & Dickie on cot in front bedroom and stairs to divided attic, basement, main floor, and upstairs attic.
Backyard, wall with 2 car garage one for storage & one for Grandpa’s 1937 Buick, 2 door. In the winter grandpa would take battery to basement to charge. He would open the door while he charged battery & run motor for a while to circulate motor.
During W.W. II Grandpa had the s/w radio on all day long so we knew what part of the world the fighting was going on. He got the Chicago Tribune with all of the war locations, etc.
When Grandpa was listening to the radio, reading, he used to roll Prince Albert out of the can. He smoked for years, he just up and quit.
3rd. Street was one of the steepest streets in Dubuque & Grandpa walked it after going downtown to the Stock Market. One day it got his wind, so doctor told him to stop smoking & he did.
Grandpa was a Jehovah’s Witness, a real bible study man. He knew a little about everything, a very smart man.
He did not like kids for years. Grandpa was a very frugal man because money was very tight when he grew up.
His lifetime employment was with the government out of Rock Island, Illinois. He used to cut down trees to use as wing dams to help control the Mississippi Spring floods. Later government dams to help control the floods from Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana.
Grandpa worked his way up to barge inventory from Rock Island, the main office still there today. Rock Island, Illinois Munitions Factory, is the only one on the river that still makes our machine gun bullets and bombs.
He got Uncle Arturo “Art” Ayala a job with the Rhode Island office. “Ari” started out sweeping floors & after many years worked his way up to Lock Master – Lock & Dam III- Dubuque, Iowa. That was neat because we could walk the dam to Wisconsin side. Pretty neat to see all of that water rushing through the locks.
When we were young, family and friends would catch a bus up to Eagle Point Park. It was beautiful place with lots of room for kids to play. Beautiful rock gardens, tennis courts, etc. There are several lookout places so you can see this Mississippi, Wisconsin & Illinois & Eppie & Art Ayala’s government house at the Lock & Dam. Good old days. That was quite a treat!
Grandpa turned out to be a very interesting person with contact with a variety of people. Before us kids came along, Grandpa had done a lot of traveling thru the Midwest, and Hot Springs, Arkansas. Surprise for me.
After I got out of the service (Korea period), 1950-1953, grandpa had changed & became the kind of person you’d want to visit with. Lucky me.”
Related articles
- Gladys Serena Linderman Nelson~Wife of Roy Leonard Nelson Sr.~Dubuque, Iowa (nelsongenealogy.wordpress.com)
- My Third Great Maternal Grandmother~~Mary Holman Linderman (lindermangenealogy.wordpress.com)
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